Florida father fatally shoots his two children in domestic murder-suicide

Mother’s screams heard in surrounding area as three bodies discovered outside apartment building

A Florida father fatally shot his two children and then himself in a murder-suicide following a domestic dispute.

The shooting took place in Miami Lakes, a suburb of Miami, where the father killed his 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son before killing himself. The shooting occurred at around 9.30pm on Tuesday outside their apartment complex.

The mother of the children was also at the home when the murders took place but she was not harmed, WSVN reported.

Neighbours who heard the mother’s screams ran outside and performed CPR on the boy, but he didn’t survive.

The apartment complex is across the street from a Publix supermarket. Witness Cardinal Norgwei exited the grocery store and told WSVN that “a lady came screaming across the street and apparently that was the mother”.

Witnesses said that they heard a woman’s screams after she found three bodies near a canal outside the apartment building.

Miami-Dade Police Spokesperson Alvaro Zabaleta said that the woman had been trying to get in touch with her ex-husband as it was getting late on a school night, but she had received no response, NBC Miami reported.

“When I walked up, there was this older lady that was standing there and she was really nervous, she said ‘yeah’ she could hear the lady screaming,” Mr Norgwei, who lives in the area, told NBC. “Supposedly, the mother of the children came into the street and some people even said they heard gunshots.”

The names of the father and children have not been released at this time.

Miami Dade Police Department Director Alfredo Ramirez tweeted at 11.20pm on Tuesday: “Earlier this evening, officers responded to the scene of a shooting where a father senselessly shot and killed his 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son before killing himself. My deepest condolences to the family of the victims.”